View Article Everyone Does Count!

This simple statement served as the theme for the 21st anniversary of the World Population Day on July 11. The director of the United Nations World Population Fund (UNFPA) commemorated the day by promoting the 2010 censuses and the necessity for the incoming data.

Just why do they need this data? According to the UNFPA director’s statement, “Censuses are central to UNFPA’s mandate and mission to support countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girls and woman is treated with dignity and respect.” Those goals sound marvelous. However, what happens when unwanted pregnancies occur and life does not follow these guidelines? Should a pregnancy be terminated if it is not wanted? Policies ensuring “that every pregnancy is wanted” could conveniently translate into abortion services

The Convention on the Rights of the Child states that “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth.” If the United Nations and the signatory nations to the Rights of the Child admit that the developing being inside the womb is a child, then how is abortion justified by numerous nations that are party to this document? Article 6 further states that “every child has the inherent right to life” and deserves protection and special care to ensure survival and development. It is quite clear that the United Nations admits that an unborn child is a human being fully deserving of care and protection. How is it not a criminal offense then, when an unborn child is deprived of life? What criteria is used to determine whether or not a fetus is human? The United Nations Population Fund strives “to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted.” Is the “wanted” factor the determining criteria? A pregnancy may not be ideal in a situation, but fear and selfishness should not motivate one to seek an abortion.

Defining a child as one who is wanted is a fluid and dangerous definition. The Population Day theme, “Everyone Counts,” must include all human beings, not just those who are “wanted.”